Prologue for Chuck vs The Spook
by Enz8
Summary: A little background story for a new agent that will be introduced to the team to help Team Bartowski starts to do Counter-Ring operations. 1st fanfic.
1. Prologue P1 : Operibus Anteire

Chuck vs. The Spook

Prologue Pt. 1

Rated T

Disclaimer: I don't own the tv show Chuck or any of its characters.

Title of Prologue/Chapter: Operibus Anteire.

A/N

The story arc will have a title (usually roman/latin) saying that I think is relevant for each arc with the translation at the end of the arc.

Will blurt out cuss words like motherf****r in order to maintain a T rating so I can get the most feedback and their will be a part where I will use excessive asterisks due to the cussing later on in my story series. Will be using the observed no more than three f words and 3 shits in one chapter. I will be using a lot of military humor and acronyms. Don't worry I'll explain them.

I will put stars ** around actual events that have happened or methods used by the personnel mentioned and those things with the stars around them are considered dialogue.

Thoughts of the characters will be in '' where as speech will be in "".

Look up the stuff you don't know about if you like. And yes I did do my research. If anything is off let me know. Also, I get a lot of my inspiration from novels and movies. I will have pop culture/movie references numbered like (pop1) and if you name it right I will give you hints to the plot.

Thanks to kuryakingirl for the beta and ideas you are a God send.

**Bilbao, Spain 5 years ago (2005)  
**

The rain continued to pour on the car as he stared at the gray concrete apartments across the street. 'At least it's warm out when it rains', he thought. "Don't want to catch a cold," he mumbled under his breath. He sat in the driver's seat of the blue SEAT León (A/N Spanish model car) that the embassy in Madrid provided him with. He zipped up his leather jacket the rest of the way and squirmed a little bit; feeling the Ka-Bar he kept on his waist stick into his side a little. He smiled. He borrowed the Ka-Bar from a marine at the embassy. Said he'd break the knife in for him. That, and he liked a little insurance in case he ran out of ammo, as he felt the magazines in his pockets. Not that it was going to happen. But, be prepared.

**A few hours ago.**

He had insisted that he get a manual transmission on the vehicle he got."And no diplomat plates," he told the lady in the acquisitions department of the embassy "I'd stick out like a sore thumb." Some people didn't understand what the word covert meant. He had stood right behind the mechanic to make sure that he changed out the plates.

The mechanic then decided to check under the hood for fluid levels. "A quick 20 point inspection," he said. "We take pride in our work, plus we always do these checks before we let a vehicle out." The mechanic smiled as he spoke in decent English. The State department had contracted out to a local mechanic shop for all the vehicle maintenance for the embassy. "Boosting the local economy," was what the ambassador said, he wanted to smooth things over with the locals in Madrid.

"Ok" the man said, as he turned around to use the can.

When he came back the mechanic was wiping grease of his hands. "Thank you… Juan", his name tag read as the man spoke aloud. It was hard to find good people like Juan the man thought. 'I'll have to remember him the next time I come here,' he thought. With that, the man threw his duffle in the back seat and headed for the highway for the 4 hour drive to Bilbao.

**Back to the present.**

He glanced at the UMP .45 on the front passenger seat that he had hid under her sweater. Women are finicky things. She _insisted_ that she didn't want her sweater to get wet.

He had convinced her to take a Kimber .45 with her.

Just as a precaution. He hoped.

He worked the action on his Sig Sauer P229 .357 Sig that he had on his hip. Something to do while she was in there working. Of course standard issue for DSS agents he hadn't had time to get adequetly prepared for this op so all equipment had to be supplied locally. Then again he never really like standard issue but if it works, it works. He looked at his watch 0121 hours local time, 0021 hours Zulu. His body was still on DC time. He hadn't been on vacation long enough for his body to adjust. And that damned clock in the car was broken. '20 point inspection my ass.' The GEO (Spanish equivalent of FBI SWAT team) were on a Helo headed up here from their base in Guadalajara. They said they would get here at no later than 0300 hours Zulu.

The plan was for Evelyn to sneak into the apartment that this Ring group, 'Hadn't heard of them before this op,' were using for a safe house and download the bank account numbers and shipping container number of the FIM-92 Stingers (Shoulder fired heat seeking man portable air defense system) that had been stolen from Edwards AFB a month ago. The US needed that intel so that DEVGRU (Elite Navy SEAL team trained especially for counter-terrorist operations) could get to that cargo ship while it was still in international waters. Then Evelyn would sneak out and go back to her apartment. Then the GEO and Ertzaintza (The equivalent of state police for that area of Spain) would take down the ETA (Spanish terrorist group) cells that were working with the Ring. They would start the raids once the GEO got there. They were going to take her from her apartment like the other Ring members. She would resist and have an "Accident" with her, the cops, and 2 kilos of semtex. Her faked death would give her the life she wanted with her husband Shaw.

"No more lies, no more having to hide it," she said. She and Shaw had gotten married only three months ago. A month after the secret wedding the Ring had shipped her out to Bilbao. "The cops will never take me alive", she had bragged to the other Ring agents when she had infiltrated the Ring cell in LA. Trying to make the inevitable more realistic for the Ring and less questions would be asked if she were seen as a zealot who wouldn't be taken alive. They had sent her over to Bilbao to instruct the ETA members on how to use the computer systems on the Stingers.

*In 2001 the ETA attempted three times to take out the Spanish Prime Minister's airplane with defunct SA-7' (a man portable air defense system [MANPAD {A/N yes it does sound funny}]). Each time the MANPADS malfunctioned.* The ETA didn't trust the IRA anymore to provide them with weapons. *The year before the Police raided a weapons cache and took what SA-7's were left before the ETA could get someone to train their people on them.*

The Ring had offered to get them brand new Stingers and train their people on the weapons and cyber-warfare. The international scandal of American weapons being used by terrorists in Europe to kill the Prime Minister, or worse the King of Spain. The international community would be outraged and the political shitstorm that would follow would be filled with accusations of American intelligence personnel provided terrorists with weapons. After all, the Ring had infiltrated the CIA and NSA -at the least- and there would be a connection. The international community doesn't care if your operatives who handed over the weapons were rogue if they were still getting a paycheck from the government because the Ring had intercepted and destroyed the burn notice on them. The EU would be pissed. And there would probably be a spy war between the US and Spain. Probably. The US did not need another war to fight. From international terrorism to the Ring, we're getting stretched thin here.

The State department had told the Spaniards that the ETA had smuggled chemical weapons on the cargo ship. Nobody in the US intelligence community wanted to admit that there were strangers in their house.

They'd flown him from Buenos Ares where he had been on vacation only 24 hours ago. They needed a DSS (Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement and counter-terrorism branch of the US State department.) agent with expertise in Spain. Not to mention that the DSS really were really the only ones with legal authority to pursue terrorists who threaten the lives American citizens abroad (FBI needs an act of congress to work internationally and the US Marshall service didn't have the resources outside the US). The FBI could shove it where the sun don't shine. That, and Evelyn said that she only trusted him. The DSS agent had saved her from a mugging a year ago outside a consulate.

The fates were against them though.

An ETA informant named Alfred in the Ertzaintza had told his handlers as soon as he found out that an American spy had infiltrated the Ring and was going to download some files from a flat that the Ring and ETA used as a safe house and a training facility for the MANPADS. After all Alfred was parked a couple blocks away to provide support for the gringo they had sent to watch her.

She didn't have a high enough clearance in the Ring to use a user name and password. She had to hack her way in. Which would eat up a lot of time.

Time they didn't know that they did not have.

He wondered why her handler, and husband, had sent her in to hack the computers. They were going to raid the apartment in a few hours anyway.

Shaw was watching the operation on a sat feed with his headset having a direct comm line Evelyn.

"It shouldn't have taken her this long", he whispered under his breath. 0132 hours local his watch read.

He broke radio silence and spoke into the cuff mike.

"Evelyn, you OK. Is something wrong", the DSS agent said.

"Yeah, we already have this Intel." She said.

"Say again!" he said with a concerned tone.

"We already have this Intel! Why did Shaw send me here if we already had this," she said in a near state of shock.

Shaw piped up, "We needed a distraction to tie up the Ring's computers so we could hack the ones they have in LA"

"You What!" The DSS agent and Evelyn said in unison into their Blue-tooth headsets connected to Shaw.

Just then, a gray nondescript van screeched to a stop as it pulled up in the alley next to the apartment building. Five men including the driver got out holding automatic weapons. The driver stayed outside by the van to light up as the four remaining men headed into the apartment building.

"Evelyn your going to get company, hunker down and find a good ambush spot. Me and the cop are going to flank them from the rear and take them out, OK." The DSS agent said.

"Okay", she said. Followed by the sound of a round being chambered.

'Good girl', he thought.

"Shaw I'm heading in," the DSS agent said.

"Fine. Keep me posted," Shaw said.

"Alfred are you there." The DSS agent said over his hand held radio he pulled off his hip.

"Yes Senor", Alfred said in passable English. The Gringo still hadn't told him his name. "I saw the men in the alley. What do you want to do?"

"We're going to take out the driver and flank them before they get to her. I'll meet you by the back of the apartment building." The DSS agent said.

"Yes, I will be there shortly." As he clicked off the radio. "But you won't." Alfred said with an evil smile.

A/N

That's part 1 of the Prologue. If it starts to get weird it's because I was listening to one night in Bangkok by vinylshakerz when I wrote this. Also, I will have songs mentioned in here later on.


	2. Prologue P2 : Operibus Anteire

Chuck vs. The Spook

Epilogue Part. 2

Title of Prologue/Chapter: Operibus Anteire.

* * *

A/N

I don't own Chuck.

Same as before for the A/N. Now let's get back to the action.

* * *

The DSS agent turned started the engine to the car and was about to pull out. 'I'll be quieter on foot.' He thought. He turned the engine off but the headlights were still on. He grabbed the UMP from the passenger's seat and slung it over his back. As he got out of the car and barely dodged a blue car that drove past him as he crossed the street.

Walking on the same side of the street as the policeman's car he took a back alley just as that same blue car that the DSS agent dodged drove past Alfred's line of site.

Alfred, the traitorous policeman, stood outside of his parked police cruiser with a remote in one hand and his radio in another. 'There's the blue SEAT,' Alfred thought. As soon as the blue car drove past him and out of his line of sight he depressed the detonator and closed his eyes.

**BOOM!!!**

The explosion rocked the surrounding buildings. The engine block was gutted of the still parked car. The explosion shattered glass on the lower levels of the surrounding cars and buildings.

The DSS felt the shock wave knock him forward and on the ground as he was jogging to Alfred. He looked behind him at the flaming carcass of a car he had just been in. He quietly sprinted with sub machine gun in hand around the building to meet up with Alfred. 'I hope he's alright.' He quickly glanced over at his watch as he sprinted along: 0134 hours local.

Alfred spoke into his radio to the Ring hit team's driver. "I got him."

"Good" spoke the driver in English on the other end of the radio. "We'll be finished with the gerl soon and be back in time fo' cornflakes (A/N Movie reference 1 for prologue). Make sure y'all warsh up too." he spoke with a southern accent.

"Si," Alfred said.

The DSS agent heard the brief communique as stood from ten meters behind Alfred.

'Driver's from Virginia, southern accent, and only DC metro area says warsh.'

That was all he needed to hear, that and seeing the detonator in the cop's hand.

'Just like scout camp, stalk like an Indian.' The DSS agent slowly walked forward from toe to heel. The rain provided enough sound pollution to cover up any slight sound he might make. He stalked forward until he was behind the cop.

The cop lit up a cigarette and took a long drag.

Quickly placing his right hand over the cop's mouth and the other on the back of the cop's head he swiftly twisted with as much torque as possible. The satisfying sound of vertebrae crunching confirmed the kill as the body collapsed and landed in a gradually building puddle.

'Don't want blood on a police uniform. The uniform could come in handy.' The DSS agent quickly sprinted across the street to the red bricked shop next to the apartment. With his back to the front of the shop, he poked his head out to see the driver. 'Perfect'

The driver was still working on his cigarette and pacing away from the agent towards the back of the building. The driver had a MP5N A2 strapped across his back. The driver walked to the apartment building wall.

'Out of my line of sight'

Then, the distinctive unzipping of a fly and the sound of piss hitting a wall.

'Just my luck' the agent thought. The DSS man pulled out his Ka-bar and like before, stalked his prey.

The driver started to whistle Dixie as the DSS man snuck up behind him.

The DSS agent grabbed the hair on the top of the driver's head and pulled the drivers chin to his chest as the agent rammed the blade in between the back of the driver's skull and his C-1 vertebrae. Severing the spinal cord the agent pulled the blade out as the rain continued to pour and rinse some of the blood off of the blade.

The driver's body crumpled to the ground as he slowly died not being able to move, make a sound, or breathe.

"Shaw," he spoke into the Blue-tooth he had in his left ear as he sheathed his blade. "Shaw!" he barked. As he touched the Blue-tooth he pulled it out and saw that it had been smashed when he fell from the explosion with a little bit of his blood on the earpiece. He stuffed the Blue-tooth in his front pant pocket as he noticed the pain in his left ear from falling on the damned wireless headset. "What a clusterf—k," he whispered under his breath.

"Evelyn, you there?" he spoke quietly into the cuff mike.

"Yeah, I'm here," she spoke in a hushed tone. "I found the shipping container number and sent it to Shaw. Are you okay, I heard an explosion, it cracked the windows up here."

"I'm fine. Good job on the shipping container, I'm heading up there to flank them. The cop was snitch." The agent paused. "I took care of him."

"I talked to Shaw." She said sadly. "I threw away my head set that I was talking to him on."

"She's not here," Evelyn and the DSS agent heard over her cuff mike. The hit team could be heard one floor below.

"They must be using my radio to track me down," she spoke hushed.

The agent pulled the UMP off of his back and flicked off the safety to two round burst. Putting the butt of the sub machine gun in his shoulder he slowly opened the door to the apartments with his left hand. Crouching, he slowly walked up to the top of the stairs carefully planting his feet at the sides of the steps. 'Wood moves less and is stronger at the joint,' he thought as he remembered his wood shop teacher telling him in high school. Just before he reached the top, he listened for any sounds.

The creaking of floorboards above him confirmed their suspicion.

"Yeah, I'm on my way up. Hold tight, radio silence." He warned. He walked as swiftly and quietly as he could up another flight of steps. His gun still pointed forward.

"Shaw, Shaw never loved me," she said.

"That's not true," the agent said. "He married you for goodness sake." He reached the top of the steps and leaned out behind a wall to peak down the hallway. 'Nobody. Two floors left to clear.'

"We'll talk about this after I get okay?"

"No, I'm not making it out of here," she said with all emotion removed from her voice.

"He just used me. He told me I was an asset and that I needed to get the Intel because he said that was what I was good for. He just told me over the radio."

"What?" the agent said in deep but pissed off tone as he slowly climbed the stairs to the next floor.

"He said I was supposed to be a distraction, and that I was just a loose end. If the Ring didn't get me, he said he was going to divorce me. I asked him why. He said, 'I just needed the Intel that's all. That's what assets are for.' He said he just needed me to be a double to turn on the Ring."

'Shee-it,' he thought as he now sprinted to clear the floor and headed for the stairs to her floor.

"I can hear them outside the door"

"I'm almost there, just hang low and I'll be there." He said.

"No, I won't let them take me. I won't let you take me. I won't let him be around him, I don't want this for him or me. It was all a lie!"

"She's in here!" The Ring agent yelled as the hit team got ready to breach in.

"Get behind some cover, Evelyn!" The DSS agent said.

"No, you won't take me alive! Any of you!" She said as she placed the .45 under her chin.

"Nooo!!!" The DSS agent screamed as he got to the top of the steps and saw the hit team knock the door down to the room she was in. He crouched and aimed down the sights and squeezed of two rounds into the back of the closest hit team member's neck.

Time seemed to slow down as he saw the red blood splatter from the man the DSS agent just shot hit the wall in the foreground. The tears on Evelyn's face dripped to the ground as he saw the flash of her pistol fire a round into her brain. What was left of her head sprayed all over the ceiling and the wall behind her.

The first two men rushed into the room and took defensive positions around the door as the last man in the hallway turned around.

The DSS agent quickly squeezed off another two rounds and saw them impact the last man in the chest.

The DSS agent got behind a wall for cover as the last two men in the hit squad fired back at him. The man the DSS agent just shot started to stand up.

'Kevlar' the DSS agent thought. Barely exposing himself, the DSS agent fired a two shot burst into the man's throat. After all it was only 50 meters away.

The Ring agent in the hallway slumped to the ground finally dead.

The Ring agents let off a volley of rounds from their pistols. As the Ring agents in the room reloaded the DSS agent heard one of them reporting in to his superiors.

"We got her; she's dead!" the Ring agent yelled as his partner fired a burst toward the DSS agent. The agent with the cell phone leaned out to fire a few rounds at the DSS agent with a pistol and took two bullets in the throat from the DSS agent's UMP. The Ring agent fell dead as the Ring communicator rolled out of his hand.

'Why didn't I think before.' The DSS agent thought as he pulled a concussion grenade from his jacket pocket. 'One-thousand one, One-thousand two' "One-thousand THREE!" he said as he tossed the grenade and it exploded just in front of the doorway to the room.

The explosion silenced any noise he heard. He quickly ran forward and tossed his UMP on his back and pulled out his pistol. He shot both of the men in the hallway in the head. 'Just confirming the kills' he thought. He did the same for the two men in the room.

He looked at Evelyn's body as the floorboards where her head had been started to change color. He got on one knee as the floor creaked under his weight and stared at her body. "Please forgive me, Evelyn. Why didn't you hide?" He noticed the flash drive that she clutched in her hand. He grabbed the flash drive from her hand and stuffed it into his pocket. He looked around at the computers, blue prints for a skyscraper, an announcement that the prime minister of Spain was going to visit a company on the 20th floor of the skyscraper, and a stack of Stingers in the room. "I guess they got some Stingers through," He said sadly. He saw some semtex next to the Stingers in the kitchen as well as maintenance uniforms. "They were getting ready for something, I hope you know you helped us stop them, Evelyn." 'Looks like they wanted to set a bomb off at a lower level of the skyscraper the prime minister would be visiting. Force him to take a helo off of the roof of the building and take out the helicopter from the roof of a nearby building,' he thought silently. He holstered his side arm and took out his cell phone and called his contact at the GEO.

"Hey Raf," said the DSS agent over his cell phone.

"Hey man, we are en route did you and that gal get the Intel?" Raf yelled into the phone over the sound of the rotors in the Black Hawk. The Cell phone illuminated the interior of the helicopter. Raf was surrounded by his compatriots from the GEO. The rest of the members of his team looked at him eagerly for any news on the upcoming op. All of them were dressed in all black from their boots to their balaclavas. The helo was starting to get uncomfortable as the men squirmed against their Kevlar and triple checked their weapons to pass the time.

"We got the Intel and found a weapons cache," the DSS agent said sadly. He was glad to hear Raf's voice. Him and his men could be trusted. Hell they went to Georgetown together. He and his men could especially be trusted after the ops they ran in Columbia. That was the first time the DSS agent met Carina; who could forget her? "We lost a man though; Evelyn's dead."

"Motherf--ker, how'd they get her?" The mood in the helicopter changed from pent up action to feeling solemn and cold instead of the stuffy and uncomfortable state it had been in only a few moments ago. Raf's team simply looked down and after a few moments most of them loaded a round in the chamber with a focused and pissed off mood. They were all ready to kick some ass. They were going to make sure that there would be a lower than average capture rate of enemy personnel on this op.

"She died from a gunshot wound to the head. I saw the whole thing. I got there just as it happened." He said as he stared at her body. He had to fight away the tears. There was still a mission to do. 'You have to be cold during the op. Can't get emotional until the mission is over; I'll have to cry when it's over.'

"I'm… I'm sorry, Jacob" Raf said solemnly.

"Jacob's not here right now, just Tango6X-Ray" the DSS agent said with narrowed eyes and a low voice, referring to his codename in Columbia.

"Then may God have mercy on their souls."

"God better because I won't. You can get the coordinates off of my phone. I'll try to give her some dignity before the locals get here. Oh yeah, a local, Alfred, he was a double. Tried to kill me, his family can have an open casket though."

"Yeah, I'll send some people over. We'll be there soon buddy alright?"

"Good bye," Jacob said as he ended the call.

He took a body bag and carefully put Evelyn's body into the bag feet first. He had to hurry; rigor mortis was starting to set in. He finally got her in and folder her arms across her chest. "You're not in pain anymore." He glanced at his watch, 'Time of death, 0141 local time.'

In the distance, the whirring of sirens could be heard as the police headed toward the apartment.

Jacob zipped up the body bag and stood up to take his Diplomatic passport and ID out of his pocket. He took the ID's in his hands and looked up at a mirror. The mirror strangely was untouched by the bullets and grenade. He saw the weathered look on his face and his short, wet. dark brown hair. A drop of water fell onto the hardwood floor from the sleave of his leather jacket as he looked at his 6' 2" frame and his high cheekbones. He looked into his dark brown, almost black eyes, he had to look away from seeing the pain in his own eyes. He could handle losing a comrade in the heat of battle, but her death was senseless. 'We would have raided this apartment in a couple hours anyway, a wasted life.' He looked down at Evelyn's body and said, "Your memory will not be tarnished by Shaw."

He looked out the window and all he saw was that damned rain. "The rain won't be able to cleanse you of this sin, Shaw."

* * *

A/N

Please R/R


	3. Prologue P3 : Operibus Anteire

Chuck vs. The Spook

Epilogue Part. 3

Title of Prologue/Chapter: Operibus Anteire.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or any songs referenced in this fanfic. They are the property of their respective owners.

A/N

This is the last part of the Prologue. That and I was listening to a Cascada playlist so if it gets odd let me know.

And thanks so much to kuryakingirl for betaing.

* * *

The local police had cordoned off the apartment as well as what was left of the car on the street. The locals didn't hassle Jacob Paulson, at least that's what his papers said, the locals did not want to have to mess with an American that just took out six men and had diplomatic immunity.

Special Agent Paulson sat on a wooden stool in the kitchen of the apartment as the local police swarmed around the scene and started to inventory weapons and take away the bodies. He took out his smart phone and started to type up an initial after action report (AAR) and sent an initial report to Shaw in LA and his superiors at the DSS making sure that the press would say it was an ETA attack and that the local police followed them to their safe house and took out the cell. 0233 hours local, the time stamp read on the email.

Evelyn was killed by the Ring while serving her country. That's what he put in his report, at least she would be honored for her sacrifice by the US or they would just sweep it under the rug. He finally decided to call Shaw back in LA. This was his outfit anyway; SHAW would take the hit for this one.

He answered on the first ring.

"This is Shaw"

"It's Paulson, Evelyn's dead," the DSS man said.

"Her sacrifice will be honored."

"That's all you have to say? Your wife just died and you don't feel anything?" Jacob said angrily.

"She knew what she was doing. She did her job as an asset," Shaw spoke nonchalantly.

"You're a piece of work Shaw. A real piece of work you rat bastard," Jacob snarled.

"I am your superior and you will not talk to me that way," Shaw responded.

"Go ahead try to pull something, I'm on loan anyway; you're not my real boss. Remember, my boss out ranks you, dickweed. Or should I call up the Secretary of the State's office and have them ream your ass. I guarantee there isn't enough Vaseline to ease the pain of one those chewing outs," the DSS agent retorted.

"Fine," Shaw said through clenched teeth.

"Good, alright pretty boy what's the sitrep (Situation Report) on that container ship," the DSS agent said.

"Sixth Fleet is en route to intercept and DEVGRU will start their raid at 500 hours Zulu estimated, via SDV (SEAL Delivery Vehicle) from a Sub en route," Shaw said coldly. "Also, GEO is going to pick you up and deal with the apartment. They've been forwarded your coordinates as well as the coordinates of the ETA and Ring cells in Bilbao."

The sound of an incoming helicopter made Jacob look out the window and noticed the rain had slowed a little.

"Sounds like the GEO are already here; I'm going to head to the roof for pick up. Oh yeah, I need you to get me the address and cell number of a Juan. He's a mechanic at the shop where I got my car from the embassy."

"Alright, I'll email you that info when I get it. I glanced over your initial AAR, I take it you're going to question this Juan."

"You could say that, I'm going to pull on the thread."

"Jacob!" Raf said as he entered the apartment with three other black clad GEO agents armed with P90's.

"I'll update you when I get new info, Alpha Kebeck Niner is Oscah Mike," Jacob said as he stood up and ended the call. (A/N oscah mike refers to on the move and alpha kebeck indicates his unit and the number indicates his precise unit level in military nomenclature and yes I spelled them how they are supposed to sound)

"Raf, how's the wife and kids?"

"Well it's still just the wife, and were still trying."

"You know what they say; the best part about kids is making them." (Movie reference 3)

Jacob and Raf got a good chuckle in and didn't notice one of the GEO agents lean over and pocket the Ring communication device that the Ring hit team leader and used. The communicator had been blown under a dresser by the DSS agent's grenade.

"OK, the rest of the teams are in place for the raids except the team I'm going in with. You want in?" Raf said.

"Love to, but I need to tie up a loose end in Madrid and file an AAR back at the embassy," the agent said begrudgingly.

"Gabe, take care of this, we're headed to the helo," Raf said to one of the GEO agents and received a quick nod from Gabe as Raf and the DSS agent headed up the stairs to the roof.

"Right, well we've got vehicles to take us back to Guadalajara with the guys were going to bust on the raid. I can get the helo pilot to drop you off at the embassy after a quick fuel top off if…" Raf said enigmatically.

Jacob stopped Raf on the roof 30 meters from the black hawk. "OK, what's the catch?"

"Seafood paella at my place tonight," Raf said as he smiled through his three hole balaclava.

"Damn man your killing me here; your wife's paella is the best on this side of the pond. Alright you got a deal," Jacob said with a smile.

They continued to walk to the Black-hawk with the sound of pebbles crunching under their feet as they ducked and got onto the helo. Raf handed the DSS agent a pair of headphones they took their seats and a GEO agent closed the door behind them.

"Command, we are wheels up, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) to target 5 minutes," Jacob and the rest of the GEO team heard over their radio headphones.

"I want all the teams to hit when we fast rope onto the target building." Raf spoke into his headset.

"Sounds like you guys are all ready to go."

"Yeah, the locals are coordinating for once, but I'll make sure that we get Counter-Intel to turn up the heat on the locals. That cop was completely unacceptable," Raf said with a bit of disgust.

"ETA 30 seconds," the pilot said.

"Roger, Fidel I need you to fly our gringo here back to the embassy ASAP," Raf said to the pilot.

"Si," the pilot answered.

"You ass I'm half Canarian," as Jacob slugged Raf in the shoulder while smiling.

The helicopter came to a stop over the apartment in downtown Bilbao as the GEO team members opened the doors to the helicopter and threw the fast ropes over the edge of the helicopter.

"Alright, all teams move in now!" Raf barked into his radio as the GEO members started to fast rope down to the roof. "See you tonight," Raf said as he took his earphones off went to fast rope down.

Jacob gave Raf the OK hand signal and mouthed good luck to Raf as he fast roped down to the roof.

"We're clear, head out," Raf said into his radio to the pilot. The helicopter dropped the fast ropes on the ground and took off for Madrid.

0246 hours local time, Jacob's watch read as he looked out at the city and saw the police cars surrounding a few building throughout the city and saw the bright burst of flash-bang grenades going off through the window of the apartment Raf just got dropped off from as police vehicles surrounded the apartment.

"Alright amigo eta 0530 to the embassy," the pilot said to the DSS agent.

"Good, good," agent Paulson responded. 'That was the best news I've heard all day.' He checked his cell phone and got Juan's address from Shaw. 'Time to pay Juan the mechanic a visit,' he thought. Now it's personal.

As they neared the embassy Jacob could see the sun starting to rise and the rain had finally started to taper off. He closed his eyes and contemplated what he had to do next. The image of Evelyn's head exploding after the flash from her pistol kept replaying in his mind over, and over, and over again. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the sun rise and the rain fade as the words came into his mind from his childhood. (A/N you could start playing CCR right now if you like.)

'Someone told me long ago  
There's a calm before the storm,  
I know; It's been comin' for some time.  
When it's over, so they say,  
It'll rain a sunny day,  
I know; Shinin' down like water.

I want to know,  
Have you ever seen the rain?  
I want to know,  
Have you ever seen the rain  
Comin' down on a sunny day?

Yesterday, and days before,  
Sun is cold and rain is hard,  
I know; Been that way for all my time.  
'Til forever, on it goes  
Through the circle, fast and slow,  
I know; It can't stop, I wonder.

I want to know,  
Have you ever seen the rain?  
I want to know,  
Have you ever seen the rain  
Comin' down on a sunny day?'

* * *

**Later…**

'He should be back by now,' special agent Paulson looked at his watch: 0550 hours local time. 'This was a nice home for a mechanic,' Jacob thought, 'Too nice.' The 50" inch plasma was to his left mounted on the wall as he sat in the living room facing the kitchen and the front door of Juan's apartment as he squirmed a little to get comfortable in the dark leather seat he was sitting in. In front of him was mahogany coffee table on top of a fine Turkish rug. He had found the plastique, detonators, and other bomb making supplies in the laundry room. The GPS chip in Juan's phone told him he was doing a morning run.

'He'll be back soon, better get ready,' he thought as he pulled the suppressor out of his right jacket pocket and screwed onto the barrel of his P226R .357 Sig with a laser pointer attached to the rail under the barrel. He then cocked the action back as the sound of Juan unlocking the door could be heard and place his pistol on his lap.

Juan closed the door, still panting a little from his run as his gray workout shirt was drenched in sweat and hung lightly over his body and light blue running shorts. He didn't seem to notice his visitor in the darkened living room. Juan opened up his fridge while turning the kitchen light on and took out a half liter bottle of water and took a swig. Juan set the bottle down on the counter and opened up a kitchen drawer facing the DSS agent and quickly took out a Glock 26 pistol taped underneath the kitchen drawer.

Pointing the pistol at the DSS agent he flicked the light switch to the living room with his left hand.

"Reach for your gun and your dead," Juan barked.

"Guess I missed that one," Jacob said sadly.

"Guess so," Juan retorted.

"OK, but I have to ask how you'll justify killing an American federal law enforcement officer with diplomatic immunity," the agent said coolly.

"Home invasion, self defense, and you failed to identify yourself, that simple. And how did you survive? I put two kilos of Semtex in there."

"Simple, I wasn't in the car. That and the clock not working on a brand new vehicle didn't seem right. I'm guessing you used the electrical system of the car to provide the power to set the bomb off, but you used the power that would have gone to the clock. Right?" He retorted.

Juan squinted at the agent, "Yeah."

"French Algerian Muslim?" The agent inquired and was met by silence.

"Ah, I thought so. I'd say your freelancer that got taught how to blow stuff up by terrorists and now just does the occasional freelance job for extra income while working for the ETA?"

Silence and a squint by Juan was the only response.

"I'll tell ya what. The issues of Playboy and FHM I found in your coffee table drawer were a BIG give away," Jacob said with a grin.

"I grow tired of this conversation," Juan said.

"So do I."

"Well then, goodbye," as Juan aimed down the iron sights at Jacob's chest.

"Wait!" Jacob said with desperation. "What if I told you I took the magazine out?"

"Then you're a bad liar, and a dead one at that."

CLICK.

Juan squeezed the trigger again and nothing happened.

Jacob coolly grabbed his pistol in his right hand, flicked off the safety and pointed the gun at Juan.

Juan yanked the slide back and ejected a round and squeezed the trigger again at Jacob. Still just a click. Juan pulled on the slide again and squeezed with only a click in response.

With his left hand Jacob took a small piece of metal out of his jacket pocket and held it between his thumb and index finger. "I took out the firing pin. Please put that Austrian paperweight on the counter. Come in here and sit down," Jacob said as he pointed with his left hand toward the seat across from him.

Juan put the gun on the counter and slowly walked over to the chair and took his seat. He was sweating now, and it wasn't because he just went running.

"Here's a souvenir for you." Jacob stated as he tossed the firing pin at Juan.

Juan uneasily held the firing pin in his hands. "I'm a professional. I'm sure that we can come to some sort of deal. I have… "

"I don't want the 200K in Euro you have in the safe underneath your bed," Jacob said as he interrupted Juan.

"What do you want?"

"Information, I deal in information. I might be DSS but most of the time I am a Spook."

"Alright," Juan said in a shaky voice. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything, I want to know everything that you know. Which is why you're coming with me Juan, and this is not an option." Jacob stood up and reached into the back pocket of his pants and tossed him a pair of handcuffs. "Cuff yourself, in the front."

Juan stood up and put on the handcuffs.

Jacob turned the on the laser pointer on his pistol and put the pistol in his left hand with the laser designator aimed at Juan's chest. He took out his cell and hit a few buttons and then put the phone up to his ear not taking his eyes off of Juan. "Yeah I got him, you can come in now." He then ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Where are you taking me?" Juan asked.

"You? The embassy, and then *extraordinary rendition to the salt pit*; I've heard it's nice this time of the year. But, you won't see the light of day for a few years,"

The special agent said as fellow special agent Oh walked in. "Glad you could join us Special Agent Oh. Don't make any Korean jokes or he will kick your ass. Isn't that right Oh?" Jacob said warmly.

"Only if you're not looking," said Special Agent Oh with a smile as he started to escort Juan out.

"Ha ha; that's good. Don't try anything, Oh here is considered a deadly weapon because of his belts in BJJ and Hap-Ki-Do," Jacob said warmly and with a smile just as Special Agent Oh and Juan walked out.

Jacob sighed, took the suppressor off and holstered his pistol. His phone started to ring.

"Hello? You're using my phone as a bug again aren't you? Well you could send me a text to let me know to call you if you think I'm busy like a normal person. Well, now that you've heard that, I have to get back to the embassy and type up my AAR. Don't worry I'll send you a copy. I don't like you hacking our servers unnecessarily. Yeah, I'll look out for him if they take an interest in him. No, you won't owe me one. You're like an uncle to me; so he's like a cousin. Don't worry we've saved each others' asses enough times, you're a brother-in-arms; we take care of our own. But yeah, I'll keep an eye out, especially with Shaw being in charge out in LA."

"I'll talk to you later. OK? Good, I'll see you later Orion."

* * *

Operibus Anteire

Literal Translation: leading the way with deeds.

Meaning: To speak with deeds instead of words.

* * *

A/N

I left with the one part of the phone call for a reason. Due to the writer, in my opinion messing up this whole final exam/rescue shaw debacle I will have to wait until after Mar 29, 2010 to really get my main story together. But, the next story will feature Our agent getting ready to get together with the team in Burbank and you learn about his interactions with Carina. Will introduce Team Bartowski in Chapter 1.

Please give me feedback to maximize you reading experience.

Ch 1 title will be: Si vis pacem, para bellum. Will have to look at my notes for the interlude name.


End file.
